To play a conventional slot machine, the player deposits money into the machine, sets the wager, and spins the reels. When the reels stop spinning, the player collects credits for winning symbol combinations displayed on the plurality of pay lines defined across the reels. All wins, if any, are then paid in accordance with a predetermined pay schedule.
While the appearance of conventional slot machines may change from one theme, such as space aliens, to another theme, such as farm animals, the underlying methods of play—setting the wager, spinning the reels, collecting awards—remain the same from machine to machine.
One element of conventional slot machines that has been changing, however, is the number of pay lines defined across the reels, with each new generation of games offering an ever increasing number of pay lines.
As the number of pay lines grows from 40 to 50 to 100 or more, the number of possible winning symbol combinations also increases. Since conventional slot machines indicate each winning symbol combination to the player one-at-a-time, it takes more and more time for the gaming device to cycle through each of the winning symbol combinations.
The time required to indicate individual winning symbol combinations causes the player to suffer from delay and boredom; deprives the gaming operators of valuable playing time and revenue; and discourages manufacturers from creating and offering additional gaming products with high pay line counts.
Thus, new methods of indicating winning symbol combinations in slot machine games are required to enhance the value of these games to players, casinos, and manufacturers.